There’s something about the holiday season that can bring out the best in people, inspiring many holiday-themed stories about love, family and community.
You can’t deny the magic of Christmas. Whether the ground is blanketed in snow and you’re peacefully enjoying a cup of steaming cocoa, or the neighborhood is decked out in bright lights and you’re driving around badly singing The Twelve Days of Christmas with your family. There’s just something about the decorative lights and festive smells and cheerful laughter that conjure a sense of love and joy and wonderment — almost like magic.
For myself and many others, the holiday season evokes fond memories of curling up and watching a tender Hallmark movie or reading a heartwarming romantic comedy. In this spirit, here are 12 Christmas rom-coms sure to warm your heart.
In a Holidaze by Christina Lauren
This quintessential holiday romance follows Maelyn Jones’ worst Christmas yet. Living with her parents while working a dead-end job — all while making epic errors in her romantic life — Mae must also say goodbye to her favorite place in the world: the cozy cabin she grew up spending every holiday. Amid an emotional breakdown while driving away from the cabin for the final time, she sends out a simple plea to the universe: Please. Show me what will make me happy. Cue screeching tires and clashing metal, and then Mae inexplicably wakes up on a plane bound for her cozy cabin again. Reliving her last Christmas in the cabin — all ending in hilarious disasters that send her back to that cabin-bound plane — Mae must figure out how to break free from this time loop … and finally get her true love under the mistletoe.
How To Excavate a Heart by Jake Maia Arlow
This Christmas rom-com — with a sapphic Jewish twist — follows two young women whose relationship starts off a bit bumpy. Shani was supposed to spend her winter break focusing on her paleoichthyology internship, thinking about dead fish and forgetting about how she was dumped unceremoniously days before. She wasn’t planning to spend her time running into girls. Literally. After hitting May with her mom’s car, the two cross paths again thanks to Shani’s dog-walking job. Slowly, Shani’s diligent studying gets pushed to the side — along with the breakup. But when the two are snowed in together on Christmas Eve, things start to feel more serious, and Shani’s pain over her ex-girlfriend’s rejection comes rushing back. Is she ready to try a committed relationship again, or is she okay with this just being a passing winter fling?
A Holly Jolly Ever After by Julie Murphy and Sierra Simone
Get ready for some steam with your Christmas romance in this story about second chances, where a childhood actress and a former boy band member are reunited as co-stars on a steamy holiday film. Kallum Lieberman is a perpetually single star-turned-pizza-chain-entrepreneur. He’s living his best dad bod life when a sex tape is leaked and goes viral, thrusting Kallum back into the spotlight. But Kallum is ready for the spotlight again and signs up to star in a sexy Santa biopic. Meanwhile, Winnie Baker, childhood-star-turned-stable-adult-and-loving-wife, is ready to redefine herself after her perfect life falls apart. And what better way than a steamy Christmas movie? With decade-old Hollywood history between them, Winnie and Kallum are both feeling hesitant about their new situation as co-stars — but the show must go on, and in the midst of Winnie’s “pleasure research,” old crushes and budding feelings begin to surface.
Wrapped With a Beau by Lillie Vale
He’s undeniably frosty. She’s brimming with warmth. Get ready for opposites to attract in this light-hearted holiday romp. City boy Ves Hollins is only in Piney Peaks long enough to sell the house he inherited from his great-aunt. The last thing he expected was for his warm-hearted neighbor to show up and unravel him like a bad Christmas sweater. Elisha Rowe is a successful film liaison determined to get her hometown back on the map with the long-hoped-for sequel to the famous holiday romcom, Sleighbells Under Starlight. All she needs is permission from the gorgeous new owner of the historic Christmas house — but first, she’ll have to melt his frosty exterior. These polar opposites may have started off on rocky footing, but as the two grow closer, they quickly realize that the growing spark between them may be just what the season calls for.
Second Chances in New Port Stephen by TJ Alexander
In this charming rom-com about family and second chances, high school exes cross paths against the backdrop of one weird Floridian Christmas. Thanks to a scandal that threatens his career as a TV writer and comedian, Eli Ward has no choice but to return to his hometown of New Port Stephen, Florida, for the first time in years. Post-transition and sober, he’s a completely different person. He can only hope to survive the holidays amidst his boisterous, loving, but often misguided family. Just when he thinks this trip couldn’t get any worse, Eli bumps into his high school ex, Nick Wu, a divorcé whose life revolves around his family and work — and who’s somehow hotter than ever. The two must decide whether to leave the past in the past … or move on together.
Unleashed Holiday by Victoria Schade
What’s better than a holiday rom-com? A holiday rom-com full of dogs! Chelsea Higgins is thriving this holiday season thanks to her booming dog training company and the companionship of her mellow senior dog. Then Andrew Gibson — certified gym bro and Chelsea’s former nemesis — moves into her business complex with his eyes fixed on the vacant space Chelsea’s been eying for months. Then an unfortunate run-in with Andrew’s lawless dog leaves Chelsea with a bum wrist, and the two strike a deal: Andrew will help Chelsea rehab the injury if she trains his adorably uncivilized boxer. As the two bickering enemies spend more time together, Chelsea finds herself inexplicably drawn to Andrew, a man she thought she had nothing in common with. Are they training for keeps, or is this unexpected Christmas gift just too good to be true?
Christmas in Paradise by Brittany Larsen
Sparks fly in this sweet romance filled with holiday magic — and some forced proximity. While planning her stepsister’s televised wedding and Paradise, Idaho’s first Yulefest, Hope gets unexpectedly sidetracked by the smoldering Sebastian Sparks. He’s a bad boy with a surprising vulnerability — and an e-bike. But Hope isn’t looking for anything serious, just a fun time. But Sebastian wants more, and he’s determined to prove he’s more than fling-worthy. Hope tries to keep her distance, but the electricity between them grows as humorous holiday mischief ensues, including meddling townspeople and gangs of hungry squirrels. But if these two are going to find their own slice of paradise this Christmas, there’s another heart Sebastian has to win.
The Christmas Swap by Talia Samuels
Get ready for a fun holiday fake-dating romance with an unexpected twist. Margot Murray is a newly single, high-flying businesswoman with no interest in a cutesy seasonal romance. Ben Gibson is an unlucky-in-love sweetheart in need of a woman to bring home for the holidays. Together, they make a pact: Margot gets two blissful weeks away from London in a picture-perfect manor, in exchange for posing as Ben’s girlfriend. The story can only go one way: Margot is sure to fall in love for real. And she does. With Ben’s sister, Ellie. As Margot and Ellie grow closer, will Ben and Margot be able to keep the charade up, or will Margot and Ellie risk the chance at something real?
You Make It Feel Like Christmas by Toni Shiloh
Prepare to get swept away by this heartwarming and magical holiday romance! Starr Lewis reluctantly returns home for the holidays jobless and single — and not at all prepared to witness her sister’s marriage to Starr’s ex-boyfriend on Christmas Eve. But when her brother’s charming best friend, Waylon Emmerson, attends their family Thanksgiving, Starr begins to believe that maybe coming home isn’t so bad after all. As Starr endures wedding preparations, she takes comfort in Waylon’s presence and finds the perfect distraction in helping him keep his late mother’s Christmas shop afloat. As the spark between them grows, Starr must decide what she wants out of life — to go back to New York City or to stay and pursue a new dream.
A Cat Cafe Christmas by Codi Gary
This laugh-out-loud, opposites attract romance features three of the world’s most beloved C’s: Christmas, Coffee and Cats. Veterinarian and animal lover Kara Ingalls fulfilled one of her lifelong dreams when she opened the Meow and Furrever Cat Café, a place to find loving homes for adoptable cats. But with more cats than customers, the café is at risk of closing before the new year. Then enters Ben Reese, an annoyingly smart and frustratingly bossy marketing guru with a plan to save the café. If Ben and Kara can set aside their differences — and find homes for all the cats by Christmas — they might discover that, by risking their hearts, they’ll have their own purr-fect holiday … together.
Tangled In Tinsel by Ellen Mint
This Hallmark-inspired romance is heartwarming, hilarious, and as steamy as a hot mug of Christmas cocoa! Dean Hancock has a singular mission: to find the long-lost cradle carved by the artistic genius Gustav Gilt and save his antique shop. Luckily, he thinks he found it in the manger scene in the middle of the small town of Tinsel — where a handsome red-haired lumberjack lives. Levi Bruce lives a monotonous life on his Christmas tree farm with his canine friend Harry when a big company threatens to take his family farm out from under him. The last thing he needs is to be dreaming of the charming man from the city who just strolled into town. Will these two fools open their hearts by the fire of the farmhouse’s hearth?
Booked for the Holidays by Chelsea Curto
It may not be a winter wonderland, but love is in the air in this tender grumpy-sunshine holiday romance. Things heat up in the small Floridian town of Park Cove when a big magazine offers a $100,000 prize for the most festive, best-decorated store. Bookstore owner Bridget Boylston is eager for the jolly task — until she finds out they have paired her with her grumpy next-door shop neighbor, Theo Gardner, for the competition. Bridget is certain their plan is heading for disaster until Theo slowly inches into her life. He takes Bridget to find the perfect Christmas trees, helps hang colorful lights and introduces her to his daughter. After discovering his devastatingly handsome smile, Bridget starts to realize there’s more to this Grinch than meets the eye.
